Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Getting Reaquainted with Cassette Tapes

It looks like it is going to take me a little time to get back into the habit of blogging. This is in no small part because now that I have a house, I also have a to-do list 10 years long. Where I used to come home from work and try to steal 30 minutes to write a blog post, I now come home from work and try to steal 30 minutes to hang a set of curtains, or scrub a few basement steps clean.

It is also in part because during those first months post-break up it was extremely difficult to focus at work, and I still feel like I am playing catch up. And in part because September through December are the very busiest in my practice area, even without playing catch up. And in part because I am trying to have a 2 cat household again, and my sweet Siamese who has always lived with at least one other cat is turning out to be surprisingly scrappy, which means that I can't rush the socialization process, must be strategic about taking cat introduction baby steps, and must ensure that both cats are getting enough attention. More about all of that in forthcoming posts.

So, it is taking me a little time to get reacquainted with this blog. In the meantime, I recently decided that I also need to take me a little time to get reaquainted with well, some old cassette tapes. (Permission to laugh granted.)

It all started with a recent solitary night out. Although Pretty Big City is a major metropolitan area and home to more than one renowned music school, it has a dearth of acceptable radio stations (aside from NPR). In fact, it had exactly one acceptable music station. And early this summer that one acceptable music station was suddenly and unceremoniously purchased by Clear Channel. The change over happened in the middle of the night. I went to bed listening to Arcade Fire, The Joy Formidable and My Morning Jacket, and woke up to "My Shirona" and the tag line "We play everything anytime!". It was a very dark day in my already very dark 2012. And it instantly killed what little fun could previously be had driving around Pretty Big City.

Until last weekend. Last weekend I ventured out on my own to see two long time favorite performers, Jill Sobule and Dar Williams. It had been far too long since I'd seen either of them live, and never both on the same ticket. The venue was a wonderful old movie theatre/quasi performance venue that sells popcorn and candy and soda even during concerts. And Jill and Dar were each as fun as I remembered. Here are a few highlights.

Click here to hear Dar sing the oldie but goodie "The Babysitter Song".

Click here to hear Dar and Jill harmonize on "Iowa", and poke a little fun at Republicans while they are at it.

The unaffected Dar visits the lobby of the theatre to say hello after the concert.

Walking a mile to my car after the show on a post-concert high, it dawned on me that a case of old casette tapes had lived the last several years in my trunk. And not just any old cassette tapes. But the early albums of Jill, Dar, Ani Difranco, Patty Griffin and numerous others. Fantastic early albums to which I knew every word of every song, but that I had long neglected. I popped a random Dar tape into the cassette player (yes, my car is just old enough to have a working cassette player, and yes, permission to laugh is again granted) and, amazed to discover that a decade of extreme heat and cold had not completely destroyed it, drove home singing at the top of my lungs.

About Juliet

Juliet is a neophyte blogger sharing her life and adventures as a lesbian attorney superhero (okay, maybe not a superhero) working in "Big Law" and falling in love with the "Pretty Big City" that she calls home.